Resident Evil: Campus Carnage
by Lynx
Summary: New area, new people, new evil.
1. Default Chapter Title

All ideas and names coming from any capcom resident evil game is strictly the property of capcom. Now, hope you enjoy

Resident Evil  
Campus Carnage 

_Humanity nutures evil  
bringing chaos into the world  
yet humanity is not evil.  
just vulnerable..._  


Bing. A small ring sounded as the elevator reached the top floor. Brant glanced at his watch, 12:04 am. _5 hours, the virus is probably spreading like crazy now. _Brant walked down the furnished hallway, the whole time thinking about what he was going to say. He of all people knew that the president of Umbrella was not a patient man. The polished wooden doors smoothly opened and Brant entered the semicircle room. A desk sat in the middle of the room right in front of a large window looking out to the city below. The black marble desk only had a neatly stacked pile of papers and one lavish fountain pen lying on top. The president was not a disorganized man either. 

" Sir..." A fine, black leather chair swung towards the disgruntled scientist and a bald man faced him from across the desk. "We have a problem at the Sellbain lab." Brant blurted out not being able to come up with an excuse while under pressure. The nervous tingle in the back of his throat was growing. 

The bald man slowly lifted his left eyebrow. " A problem?"   


Brant shuttered inside hearing the cold, yet calm voice of his boss. " It's Warris." 

" The G-virus fanatic? The one who worshipped the very ground Birkin walked on? I'm guessing my spy has reported some mingling commited by our dear Mr. Warris." The bald man said, not once changing his blank expression. 

" Yes, he never accepted that the G-virus was too unstable." Brant agreed. Shame befell him as he cursed at himself in the back of his mind for sucking up. He realized a long time agom that he was a yes-man but he was this because of one big reason. He was afraid of his employer. " Yes, it was your spy who contacted me but the situation is much more grim than you think." 

Being Umbrella's top scientist, Brant was no fool. He could anticipate the president's need to know basis and his need for a solution. Being smart is not the only thing you have to be to climb corporate ladder, you also have to have a high sense of perception. "Unfortunately we have had no word from anyone else at the compound and I'm assuming they are all dead. The message said that he has already spread the T-virus throughout the compound." 

The bald man remained unfazed by the news of the outbreak. Brant had never seen him panic. He always wanted to know all the information. He liked hearing multiple solutions and he always picked the best one. He was the ultimate strategist. " Assumption can be quite dangerous, Brant. I know my spy is not incompitent and he would have stated the exact time the virus was released." 

" He did say it started at about 7 am." Brant answered. 

" T-virus takes approximately six hours to go into full affect. You can obviously do the math." The bald man inimically stated turning his chair and gazing out into the gray metropolis. " Solutions, Brant." He said to the window. 

" We don't want to lose the information that our lab has produced so bombing is out of the question. " Brant said remembering the Raccoon City incident. Than, an answer hit him. _Desolator! He can handle any creation Warris could possibly dream of. This is perfect! I kill that repulsive cretin Warris, get to test my ultimate brainchild and impress baldy over here. Three birds, one stone. Some times I out do myself. _Brant complimented himself. He knew it was stupid to be excessive but sometimes he did things that he could even believe. 

Brant was so caught up in his thoughts that he did realize a grin had wiped across his face and was surprised to hear," You want to use Desolator, don't you?" The bald man spun his chair around to once again face Brant. " But how did you..." Brant began to mumble. " Brant, I know your enthusiam towards Umbrella's latest bio-weapon but there is a reason for your enthusiam. I have read the reports and saw Tyrant-03 in action. His progress and features even impress me." 

" Yes, Desolator is perfect for this situation. We send him in programmed to destroy Warris. After the mission is completed and Desolator is out of there we blow the place and make the police believe it was some maniac student." Brant beamed thinking that his plan was without flaw. 

" Brant, you forget two very important variables in this crisis. Our information gathered at the lab and any employees that might still be alive. Desolator will be sent in but so will a assault force. We will have the force collect all data they can find and rescue any Umbrella survivors. Than we execute the final stages of your simple but affective plan when the force is through." The bald man tilted his head and tapped his index fingers. " Do it." Brant turned to leave and as he reached the door, the bald man shot one final phrase at him," Don't fail me." 

" Yes sir." Brant said, feeling like he was a step away from saluting him. He rushed out of the room, startled by his bosses sharp but expressionless warning. He put the chilled thought out of his head and comforted himself with images of Warris being ripped to shreds by Desolator. _Warris, you doubted me before but there is no way you are getting out this alive. I win and that is all that matters._ He knew that he should feel stupid for thinking such petty thoughts of revenge but Warris deserved what was coming to him. Brant chuckled softly to himself as he went down the hallway to get things started. 

  
Chapter I 

'A fresh coat of snow has covered the grounds of the university. I feel like a kid again. I am so happy since exams are over and Christmas break is here. God what a hellish week. I thought I my brain was going to explode through all of the facts that I crammed in. Well I...' 

" Yo, Edwin, lets go!" Mick's voice interrupted the young author's journal entry. 

" Can't you ever give me any privacy. I know we share a dorm, but fuck. I need time to do things like this." Edwin cursed at Mick. If there was one thing Edwin neede, it was privacy. 

" These things can wait though. Do you really want to miss the party tonight? We just got out for the holidays and it's time to party!" Mick exclaimed trying to get Edwin pumped.  


"Look, I need to get this finished. You know how I am with my journal. Just go to the party and I will meet you there in five minutes." Edwin said trying to get some time alone with his thoughts. 

" Ok, see you there." Mick said as he zipped out of the dorm. 

'Sorry about that, Mick just interrupted my thoughts. No one really understands my passion for writing. It is my one outlet for letting my true emotions free. I always acted so cool and savvy but it was just a mask. I acted as if nothing bothered me but the truth is, I absorb everything. I guess writing has been my only escape from the reality I set. I guess I should stop writing now and get to the party. I have told myself the same thing over and over and I guess I just like reminding myself how fragile I am. See ya!' Edwin dropped his pen and put the journal in his desk drawer. He stopped for a minute and looked down. _Another semester finished. Just two more and I'm out of here. I'll be out there, fending for myself. I hope I make it._ Edwin snapped out of his trance and went to get dressed up for the party. Sometimes he got lost with all the thinking going on in his head.  
  


Ric glanced back at his footprints in the snow. _God, who knew this was going to be such a climb._ He kicked his boots on the side of the building to remove the snow from his soles and walked in the university. Looking around he saw an information alcove which had been barred in by a wooden counter and above there was the traditional 'all vistors report to the front desk' school greeting plaque. Two hallways forked the enterance a stairwell could be seen at the end of one. The information area was empty and the place seemed to be barren. _Just my luck, I had to trek up that massive hill in sub zero weather while going through the most traumatic events of my life to find my brother for answers and now there's no one fucking here!_ Ric rambled to himself, knowing in the back of his mind that nothing would be accomplished if he just sat around whining. He went to the edge of the wooden counter and tapped a bell just in case anyone was around. We waited for a minute, nothing. In a moment of frusteration, he wacked the bell making it fall to the floor. When Ric turned to the hall with the stairs to find someone, a door behind the information area creeked open. Ric spun to see a lean, pompous figure clothed in a gray single brested suit. "Hello?" 

The man walked towards him and fully materialized under a flourescent light on the ceiling. His face was thin and wrinkled yet still maintained so form of acttractiveness. His hair was a brownish-gray and was perfectly combed. His dark brown eyes seemed to give of an aura of strict and stern discipline. Ric already figured out he was a dean. " And you are?" The man asked in annoyed voice. 

" I'm Ric Coomber. I'm here to see my brother." Ric answered forcefully, feeling threatened by this unnamed authority figure. 

The man's eyes widened for a second than reverted to normal size. Ric felt like he was beeing analyzed. " My name is Mr. Stilmeyer. I am a dean here and I know your _brother_ quite well." Stilmeyer said, sneering the word brother. 

" Well can you tell me where he is?" Ric asked trying not to be impatient. 

" Fine." Stilmeyer exited the information alcove. He stopped and faced Ric. " Does your brother even know you are here?" 

Ric looked at Stilmeyer's aged face. His impatience was growing witht the elderly but spiteful dean. " No he doesn't. I kinda rushed here because of a family emergency." 

The dean's eyes stared down at the youth's growling eyes. " I see... Next time try and call before hand. I am already having to do extra work because the information staff have already left for the holidays."   
Stilmeyer exited down the hall oppositeto the one with the stairs. 

_Man, what an asshole._ Ric thought as the man exited his sights.  
  


Edwin stood at the door of his friends' christmas break party. Even if he hadn't of known the dorm number, the music pounding through the walls would have been evidence enough. Edwin had to pratically bash the door in to get someone to hear him. The door swung open and there was a blonde beauty with emerald eyes right in the doorway. " Hey everyone, Edwin's here!" she shouted to the six guests inside. 

All the guest turned around and said hello and then went back to dancing or eating or drinking. Edwin entered giving a cheery 'hello' to everyone. In total, there were eight at the party. First there was Edwin Coomber. He was the cool one out of his group of friends. He never allowed emotions to get the better of him in public. It was his way of protecting himself and others. The next person was Mick Oriole, Edwin's dorm roommate. He was well built and very husky. His muscles had led him to act like a jock since high school. His machoism only masked his deep sense of caring and compassion for other people. Next was Joseph Lyn, or Seph, his group nickname. Having the highest mark in Sellbain had cost him a large portion of his life. Studying had become a compulsion to him. Even during holidays he would be hitting the books cramming more facts into his head. His antisocial habits gave him a fear of doing anything new and unfimiliar. His unwillingness to take risks put him near the brink of agoraphobia. Joseph's roommate became a savoir to him when they first met in first year at Sellbain. Herold Prest was a flamboyant, clubhopping, testermone charged slacker crazed with going out and just living. He was the complete opposite of Joseph and was able to lead Joseph a neckways out of his shell. Prest, as he liked to be called, was the reason Joseph had come down to the party. Prest had become obsessed with the guest by the name of Jesse Cooper. Her figure was parallel to Prest's shallowness. The authenticity of her breasts had come into numerous conversations between her friends. She was a spoiled beauty queen who thought more about her looks than anything else. Melissa Ronberto was the strong one out of the girls. Her story was a tragic one. Being raped at the innocent age of fourteen changed her whole view of life. She felt that she needed to be strong to survive. She usually looks within herself to solve her own problems and has a hard time openning up to people especially males. Kathryn Gabriella was the modest one. She usually remained quiet and gave people support when they needed it. She could lighten up a room without even saying a word. She was serene, rarely giving off angry or depressed thoughts. Like Edwin, her emotions were hidden behind a role she thought she had to be all the time. A role she felt protected from the world in. The final person was the hostess of the party, Kelly Knight. She was the one who always had to remind everyone else of her achievements. She believed if you always acknowledged your accomplishments, your failures wouldn't seem as bad. She wasn't totally self obsessed and she did enjoy seeing people having a good time. That was the reason she had thrown the party. " Kelly, how about turning the music down for a bit, give all of us a chance to talk."Edwin suggested. 

" Okay, but it doesn't mean that it's off for the night. Oh, by the way, drinks are over there." Kelly said trying to be a nice host. 

" Edwin, how goes life?" Prest asked energetically as Edwin found his way to the refreshment stand. 

" Not bad Prest. Although, I didn't expect to see you here." 

" I know I usually hit the clubs on friday evenings but hey, I thought I would just stay with my friends. Besides, I wanted to get Seph out of the dorm and doing something other than studying." Seph said while pouring himself some beer. 

" Sure Prest." Mick said entering the conversation. " You're just here because of Jesse." 

" Shut up you muscle-bound moron. I wouldn't change my schedule over some chick." 

" Please, Prest. I've seen the way you stare at her chest. You want to climb them, don't you?" Mick pressed on. 

Prest was beginning to get aggravated and Edwin could feel the tension. " Ok, break it up! We are here to have fun not quibble over insignificent innuendoes." 

Prest snarled at Mick. He looked towards Edwin and mildly grumbled," Always the voice of reason eh." Edwin gave Prest a look of dissatisfaction before pouring somem coke for himself_. Prest, you sure are a piece of work. It is beyond me why he would want to get into a fight over pety insults brought by Mick in good humour. Oh yeah, reminder to self: thank Kelly for putting pop out for me._ Edwin didn't really like when his friends acted immature it made him feel like he was in high school again and that was a time of his life he would much rather forget. Edwin was always saying things like," Are we back in grade school again?" or " Stop acting like idiots." It's not that he didn't like having fun and acting childish he just thought there was a time and place for eveything and people chose to be immature at the worst times. Edwin did not like to think that because his friends acted like idiots at times made them idiots. He knew that behind any human on the face of Earth was a vulnerable being susceptible to any compensation found to mask weaknesses from others. Edwin always was concious of his own masquerade. A sauve attitude matched with the occasional sunglasses covering his tanned leather brown eyes. Regular jeans and non-labled and colored t-shirts always occampanied his 5"11, 180 lbs form. His auburn hair was rugged but never too long. He was his own version of calm. He tried to act like a perfect gentleman but sometimes the best of people screw up, big. 

  
Seph had come and started talking to Prest and Mick while Edwin was getting his drink. " Looks like Edwin's getting some pop." Prest snickered at his friend's AA attitude. " I hope he doesn't have too much or he might get a bit tipsy." 

Seph snorted a bit. " Lay off Prest. You know why he doesn't want to drink." Mick defended. 

" So he got a bit drunk and made a mistake. Big deal. He of all people should know that everyone makes mistakes." Prest scoffed not understanding Edwin's sobriety. 

" You know very well that he never forgave himself for what he did. That's why he made the promise." Mick scolded. Seph coughed lightly to try to cover his shame of encouraging Prest. 

" He didn't even hit her that hard and she forgave him, right?" Prest argued not wanting to accept that Edwin was now just a slave to regret because of a mistake that Prest himself had copied in the past. 

" Edwin works damn hard to keep his emotions in check. You know how he never gets angry or anything like that. She may have forgiven him but I believe that she remembers that day everytime she sees him." Mick berated Prest's view some more. 

" Listen, I'm not saying Edwin is bad but..." Prest began. 

" Let's just drop it guys." Seph interrupted. 

" Fine." The arguing duo agreed. For a moment there was dead silence. " I know a question you would like." Prest said to Mick annoyed by the silence. Mick looked at him with a bit of curiousity in his navy blue eyes. " Who out of the four girls here would you like to fuck?" 

" C'mon Prest, what kind of question is that?" Seph asked just as Edwin rejoined his friends. 

" What question?" Edwin asked curiously. 

" Prest wants to know which one out of Jesse, Kelly, Kathryn or Mellisa would be my choice to sleep with." Mick replied. 

" Prest, what the hell kind of question is that?" Edwin repeated agreeing with Seph's distaste. 

" Why do you guys always have to be boy scouts for. It's all in good fun for Chrissakes!" Prest explained hoping his friends could break his boredom he was facing. _C'mon Edwin, you can't be totally pure. I know there's a part of you who can actually have a bit of fun._

" Alright, whatever. The question wasn't directed at me anyways so why should I care?" Edwin said. 

Mick began to rub his chin, seeming to be thinking very deeply about the subject. " Gotta to be Kelly." He finally answered. " She may not be as attractive as Jesse but she does have more character and her confidence really intruiges me."  


" Kelly, she is pretty good looking." Prest said. _Doesn't anyone care just about looks anymore? Out of everyone here I thought Mick was the one who would agree with me. Well there's that whole book, cover thing. _" You're turn, Seph." 

Seph shook his head before he said," What the hell, I know if I don't answer you, you'll annoy me all night. Melissa. Yeah, Melissa. I like how strong she is even in the bleakest of situation. It's something I admire." 

" The whole opposites attract thing, right?" Mick asked. 

" Yeah." Seph said blushing a bit. 

" Edwin your turn." Prest said._ Let's see who 'etiquette Edwin' picks_. 

" No Prest, I don't want to. This is... is stupid." Edwin rejected, fumbling a few words. 

" You're a virgin!" Prest announced. 

" What?!" Mick blurted. 

" But how did you, you know?" Edwin said fumbling the words again. 

" I have experience in this area." Prest bragged. " That means you're the only guy here who is." 

" Seph you aren't!?!" Mick asked a bit shocked. 

" One night, Prest took me clubbing and..." Seph started. 

" You got drunk with this one girl, Marcy I think. And in the morning you were in a motel without any pants on. Another clubbing classic." Prest finished. While the others just stood their, staring at Seph in disbelief Prest was congradualting himself on his choice of words. _Clubbing classic. Beuatiful, just beautiful. Prest, you certainly are slick_. 

" Yeah. That's one of the few risks that I'm glad I took if you know what I mean." Seph beamed while being shifted out his normal self by his hormones. 

" Damn, you think you know a person and wham!" Mick exclaimed. 

The group became silent for a bit. Seph was now very edgy, obviously feeling a bit ashamed of his rambunctiousness in trying to be masculin. Prest decided to kill the silence. " Well, I'll pick one for you. Since Mick got Kelly, Seph got Melissa and everyone here knows I want Jesse, Edwin, you get Kathry.... oh shit." Prest cursed. _That sounded a lot better in my head. _

Edwin stood emotionless staring at Prest. He quickly turned his head as a tear formed under his left eye. " What's the matter with you, Prest? Don't you think before you open the big fuckin' mouth of yours!?!" Mick yelled fiercely. 

Edwin wiped away the tear a turned his head to Mick. " It's ok Mick." 

" I'm REALLY sorry Edwin." Prest grovelled. " Oh look, I'm out of beer. I thinking I'll just go.. and.. get some.. stuff." Prest got out of there as fast as he could. 

Edwin slowly turned his head towards Kathryn. She was enveloped in a convesation with Kelly, Melissa and Jesse. " Kathryn. I'm so sorry." Edwin whispered to himself. 

  



	2. Default Chapter Title

" Oh, that's just my plaque for archery I recieved at the city-wide fiinals." Kelly boasted in response to Melissa's question. Kelly smiled a bit as she looked at the her face in gleam of the golden metal imprinted into the plaque. 

" Archery?" Jesse asked in disgust. " Why are you so proud about doing well at something that isn't even useful today?" 

" Please Jesse, I don't see you waving any awards given to you." Kelly rebuked. She disliked Jesse and always was trying to better her. _What the hell? She doesn't even show any jealousy in her face or voice. How can she be so self absorbed. I hate when she does this!_ Kelly felt that her confidence was being challenged by someone who had more self assurance than anyone she had ever known. 

" I don't need a piece of metal to know that I am good at the things I know I'm good at. Besides, your face has never appeared on the pages of four different magazines, know have they?" Jesse nudged Kelly further knowing that she was getting really pissed off. 

" Well that's because putting a glob of every type of make-up ever evented on my face doesn't appeal to me." Kelly responded with a comeback she thought was appropriate. 

" Oh, thanks for reminding me. I'm just going to slip in the washroom for a bit. After all that rushing around, I haven't had a chance to fix myself up all day." Jesse said as she headed to Kelly's washroom. 

Kelly was screaming inside her head, feeling very enraged that Jesse was able to make a fool of her _again_. " Why are we friends with that _thing_?" she asked. 

" Because that thing has connections." Melissa answered. 

" She is like some character taken out of a movie from the sixties where there is this lead cheerleader that cares more about her looks than anything else." Kelly stated. 

" She is but she has more spunk." Melissa added. 

" Common guys, she's not that bad." Kathryn said. 

Kelly and Melissa both turned to Kathryn with perplexed looks on their faces. _Why does she do things like this? Doesn't she see that Jesse deserves something really bad to happen to her like lightning striking her and crisping her face or something to that degree. She even forgave Edwin for Godsakes._ Kelly took a hard look at Kathryn remembering her friends past. Kathryn stood at about Kelly's height but was not as thin. Parts of her were a bit chunky such as her thighs and stomach. Her light red hair hung loose down to her neck unlike Kelly's ponytail. Her hair was brushed to one side and covered a sliver of one of her pale blue eyes. Her eyes were so pale that they actually looked to be grey and the blueish taint could only be seen at close range. Kelly remembered meeting her at school assembly of her first year at Sellbain. As Kelly began to chat to her, she noted the timid and tranquil behaviour of the girl named Kathryn. As the school year progressed she began to hang out with the red-head more and more. She was very good listener and Kelly loved to talk to her one on one. If presented with a group situation, the timid girl would usually stay quiet and listen. Kelly knew very little about Kathryn's past but she did know that she came from a broken home. They always talked about problems and life's annoying challenges and Kelly knew after all their time together that she could trust this girl to always be there for her. She couldn't recall home many times Kathryn had help her but she knew it was a lot. She knew Kathryn didn't like insulting anyone and that she always managed to see the good side in people. This and the fact that she was so mysterious annoyerd Kelly but she knew that Kathryn's good qualities outweighed the bad. Kelly didn't force Kathryn to speak about her past because she knew she had gone through a lot of pain and that's why at times she despised Edwin for what he had done. Of course, she never let him know. 

  
" good in people." Were the only words that Mick heard Melissa say as he went to see what his other friends were up to. 

" I don't always see the good in everyone." Kathryn said not noticing Mick standing behind her. 

" Hey girls. Whats up?" Mick asked, scaring an unexpecting Kathryn who just had someone sneak behind her. She let out a small shriek as she spun around to see Mick's brown eyes. " Calm down. It's just me." 

Kathryn blushed a bit and apologized. 

" It's ok. No harm done. So whatcha guys up to?" Mick asked again. 

" Just bad-mouthing Jesse." Kelly answered. 

" Cool. Why don't you guys come join us." Mick suggested as he pointed to the other end of the room which held the males. " It feels like the first school dance I went to with all the guys at one end and all the girls at another." 

" Yo know, you're right." Kelly agreed. " But I have a better idea." She walked over to her desk with held her CD player. " We had the music off long enough, don't you agree?" She asked as she pressed down the play button releasin a noise which could only be describe as earthshaking. Kelly began to move to the techno beat. Then Melissa followed, joining her most trusted friend on the crude dance floor. Then Kathryn brought her slow, rhythmic moves to the floor. 

" Now this is more like it!" Prest screamed as he lit up the dance floor with all his clubhopper dance styles. Edwin bopped his head up and down to the beat being very careful not to do anything too crazy. Mick grabbed Seph and forced him to join the party. Mick began to do a wave action with his tree trunk arms. Seph swayed to and fro. P_oor Seph. I guess with his lifestyle, he didn't get a chance to dance much. Mick, why should you care. He having fun so lets leave it at that._ Mick scorned himself as he watched Seph out of the corner of his eye. He had known the over-achiever with his patent wire frame glasses for the last three years. Compared to Mick, Seph was a match stick. Mick was 5'10 and weighed 205 lbs. His chest barreled outwards and his muscles were hard and built. Seph on the other hand was 5'7, weighed 130 pounds and didn't have a shred of fat on him. His brown hair was craggy when left alone but Seph always combed it to perfection. His brown eyes seemed to beam with intelligence. He was intelligent and disciplined but his three years with Seph openned up his eyes and made him more into a human. Mick noticed how much fun Seph was having being away from his robotic programmed to study self. Mick knew it wasn't his fault that he studied do hard, he had to because his parents were very stricted. Hell, were he came from, the whole school system was strict. Seph had been born in China and his real first name was Zhang. He decided to changed it when he had been living in the U.S.A for a while. Mick head sometimes hurt when Seph went on about his major, chemistry. Seph had been changed a bit by Seph but it didn't mean he had lost his passion for a subject he loved. He was forced to study hard as a child but after so many years of doing it Seph began to love studying certain subjects and this was something Mick could not understand. Seph might have been strange but that didn't matter to Mcik because he knew the genious meant well. 

Mick's eyes cought a glimpse of Edwin bumping into Kathryn and immediately he thought_ oh shit! _

  
Edwin was to busy concentrating on dancing that he didn't notice the young woman behind him. He took a step back and felt a body press into his. He turned to find himself staring right into Kathryn's grey eyes. His brows raised and for a second, he didn't know what to do. She also had a look of confusion of her face being in the same perdicament as Edwin. " Kathryn, ummmmmm hi." Edwin somehow managed to spit out. 

" Hi!" she quickly answered. 

_Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit! Brain, do something! Get me out of this situation! Help me! _Edwin's mind was going berserk. Kathryn had forgiven him and they did still talk but only short conversations that were full with tension. After a while, Edwin began to avoid bumping into her because of sheer terror. It had been weeks since he had actually talked to her and his hiding had made things worse. A lot worse. Then all of a sudden, she smiled at him. He pushed his head back in confusion. " Edwin," she said slowly and softly. Edwin began to feel anxiety drowning his brain. " I...." 

Suddenly the dorm room flew open and there stood Dean Stilmeyer. His brows were furrowed and his arms were crossed. 

_Noooooooooo!_ Edwin's moment with Kathryn had been smashed by the dean. He just stood there, sternly scanning the room and it's occuputants. 

" Mrs. Knight, you shouldn't leave your door unlocked." He said, making curving the left side of his lips upward. " I _knew_ you were the one behind the music." . 

Kelly quickly scrambled to turn off the music. She didn't want to get in anymore trouble than she already was in. " C'mon, Mr. Stilmeyer, it's Christmas vacation!" Prest tried to explain. 

" Mr. Prest, if it was up to me, you wouldn't have Christmas break. Student's today have it too easy. You should be working as hard as I had to." Stilmeyer said like he had earned everything that he had through studying. 

" Mr. Stilmeyer, we have it harder than you could ever imagine. We have to worry about a girl or boyfriends, the future, people accepting us. The road we have traveled has been a long and strenuous one and ever since we entered grade nine it has been a rocky road of obstacles and dissapointments." Mick said. _Mick sometimes you don't cease to amaze me. I would like to tell him that was very eloquant but he used road twice. Dammit Edwin, shut up. You don't have to be criticizing Mick just because your so good at your precious english writers craft._

" We just went through exams, the most feared word in any students vocabulary and we just need a chance to relax." I Edwin said having everyone shook their head in agreement with him. 

" Mr. Coomber, there are other ways of relaxing than having a loud party. When I was young, I didn't have time to relax. Like I said, I had it much harder than you. I don't really care if you don't believe it Mr. Oriole." Stilmeyer said in a comfortable tone. _This guy rattles my chains. How the hell can act so cool and comfortable like he is always right. I hate to admit this, but I see the truth behind his words._ "Mr. Coomber, I was not surprised how stubborn and rude the child downstairs is considering his relation to you." Stilmeyer said. 

" My brother?" Edwin asked, shocked by his statement. 

" Yes, he is here on campus grounds to visit you." Stilmeyer explained. 

" But he never told me..." Edwin started trying to think why the hell his brother was here. Than it hit him. " Oh no, he's found out!" 

Suddenly, the sound of whirling blades echoed through the entire university. As the sound became louder and closer, a crash shook the floor beneath. Then the whirling started to fade in the distance. 

Stilmeyer quickly looked in the other direction and turned back to face us. " I'm going to see what that was, but don't think I'm through here. I'll be back to set you juveniles straight." Stilmeyer warned as he left the dorm door_. Pretty impressive reflexes there, Stilmeyer. Well for a __**dean**__. _Edwin scoffed at his superior in his head. 

Meanwhile, the party guests were throwing around statements like, "what the hell was that" or "what the fuck was that noise" or "was that a helicopter". Prest decided to speak up while turning the music back on," Hey guys, forget about the noise. This is a party remember. Let Stilmeyer handle whatever's going on cause... we're on **vacation**!" 

Right after the word 'vacation' everybody cheered. Kelly slammed the door and locked it this time. People began to start dancing again and everyone got back into the mood except for Edwin and Kathryn. Kathryn retreated to the bar area. Edwin's mind then hit a stage of panic as his problems hit him like a speeding school bus. _Not good, not good. My brother is here and with my luck he knows the truth. Then there's Kathryn who wanted to say something before Stilmeyer ruined her moment. Then there's all the other problems bothering me like what happens after university and such. Ok, ok. I have to calm down. _Edwin's mind cooled from his near meltdown as Mick came over and asked," Aren't you going to go get your brother?" 

" No. I'm going to wait till Stilmeyer gets back. My brother could be anywhere on the campus." Edwin explained showing Mick my reasoning. 

" Oh, ok." Mick apparently ended as he turned around only to swing back to face his roommate a second time. " You don't talk much about your brother. Is there something wrong bad going on?" 

" What do you mean I don't talk about him!?!" Edwin rebuked, offended by the question even though he knew it was true. 

" Well I don't even no what his name is. You mentioned him a couple of times but never anything more than you telling me you have a brother. We have been close friends here for four years and you'd think by now I would know what his name is." Mick said knocking some sense through Edwin's barrier of pride. 

" I'm sorry. You're right, I was just too daft to admit it. My brothers name is Ric. He's young, fifteen to be exact and he's a really great brother. But I always felt guilty from this one thing the I kept from him." Edwin said slowing his speaking pace near the end of my words because of the regret that he held inside. 

" What was that 'one thing'?" Mick asked becoming more curious by the second. 

" I don't feel like talking about it, Mick. We just got off on holiday break and I don't want to worry about this whole thing too much." Edwin said protecting himself from showing his true emotions. 

Mick nodded at me and walked away, respecting Edwin's privacy. With all the brother talk Edwin had forgotten about Kathryn, who he saw by the drinks. Her face was still a bit flushed from being pulled away from her words. _What the hell am I supposed to do know! What was she going to tell me? This is ridiculous. I can't keep on running away. I have to go over there and set things straight._ It seemed like fate would take over at this instance as the dorm door began to bend forward from blows from someone in the hall. 

  
Ric had heard the thunderous noise emitting somewhere from the courtyard. He stood stationary for five minutes debating whether not he should check out the cause of the disturbance. " I should go see what the hell that noise was." Ric said to himself. Unlike his brother, Ric liked to think out loud. " Dammit, where is everybody! Being alone in the main entrance of a university with strange noises shaking the whole building is not my idea of fun! I should check it out, maybe a car crashed and someone is in trouble." 

After his hesistant decision, Ric opened Sellbain's famous solid oak doors which had been put in during the late eightteen hundreds when Sellbain was founded. The doors were actually originally for the chapel that was built before the university in 1854. The head of the development of the university, Charles Sellbain, had decided to keep some of the pieces of architectiral art from the chapel because he didn't like the idea of beautiful pieces of human ingenuity being lost forever. The doors could be locked by putting some sort of a board between two slabs located at the back of each of the doors. Ric shivered a bit feel the frigid air blowing in through underneath his jacket. He looked around, admiring the subtle beauty of the courtyard. Five main buildings molded the courtyard into a giant pentagon. The courtyard was full of trees since Sellbain had been built right on the edge of a forest. and Mr. Sellbain decided that the trees would the inside look a lot nicer. The centre of the courtyard was in the shape of six-sided star which had four extravagantly decorated statues of angels. The angels were another relic collected from the chapel. A lunch area supported by tables polymerized with pure marble lay to the west of the the centre of the courtyard. A field used for different sports played by the students lay north of the centre. The entrance into the university was south of the centre. The other areas of the courtyard were just winding pathes leading to different areas of the compound. 

Ric took one of pathways looking for anything peculiar. He got a little paranoid beinging all alone traveling in a barren courtyard in dark. Ric looked up for a second and realized how many stars there were in the sky. Since Sellbain was located right outside of Chicago, the stars were not blocked by all the city lights. He gazed up right at the moon. It was full and gave the whole courtyard a silver tint. No clouds disrupted the marvel of the starry sea. Ric smiled for an instance at the natural beauty and than continued his search. The path he was on lead to the centre of the courtyard. As soon as he was in range of the angels, he found what he was looking for. Six pieces of some sort of container that resembled a pop can were strewn about in different locations. Ric noticed T-03 imprinted in white on one of the metal fragments. Moving closer Ric saw that the middle of the six-sided star had been leveled by something big. Ric could only gues that something had fallen from a very high altitude but he had no clue of what could have made sucha big crater. Than he noticed huge footprints freshly engraved in the snow. They were at least ten times as big as his own. " What the hell?" echoed through the massive courtyard as Ric's breath immediately condensed into white vapor as it escaped his mouth. Suddenly, groans soared through the darkness right into Ric's ear. He turned, scanning the frosted darkness. He saw nothing. More and more groans filled the air. " Hello? Is anybody there?" Ric stammered in fear. A snowflake evaporated into nothingness as it came in contact with Ric's nose and it was at that moment that he noticed it had started to snow. He glanced upward from the exact middle of the six-star and caught one last glimpse of the moon as whole sky obfuscated to a sudden evil which had been sent by a greater evil. Ric's field of view drastically decreased as the darkness surrounded him. His heart was pounding, his pores were clogging, his soul was convulsing and at that moment Ric knew that something wicked had come. 

  
The smashes against the wood became louder and one by one the guests began to notice. They all stared in curiosity and then the door burst open and a limp human silhouette stood at the door. As it's face entered the light we saw a mutilated form with pieces of flesh hanging off mutiple places on it's body. The eyes were bloodstained red and showed the ferocity of a rabid wolf. The skin had 'melted' so much that the structure of the skull could be seen in the face. It looked like someone who hadn't eaten in weeks. It glanced at all of them than lunged towards Edwin! 

_Their futures were so bright  
with infinite possibilities... _

_Now their futures have grown dark  
and the only possibilities are die  
or survive..._  



	3. Default Chapter Title

Chapter 2  
  


Everyone watched in horror as the creature tackled Edwin. _I don't think so, pal._ Mick thought as he kicked the creature in the ribs. It rolled of the horrified student. Mick crouched down and pounded the monster's emaciated face trying to knock it out. Edwin pulled himself up as fast he could. Then he noticed that pieces of flesh and drips of blood and pus had stained his shirt. He screamed, ripped of his shirt and threw it as far as he could. He was left with only his wife-beater underneath. " What the **fuck** was that?!?" Edwin screamed. 

Edwin was shaking from his close encounter with unnatural. The rest of the room had become possessed by a sense of utter confusion. The shock had silenced everything. Even the music could not penetrate the students' recoiled eardrums. Everyone _except_ Jesse who was _still_ in the washroom 'fixing' herself up. _What the hell is going on here?_ Mick kept on asking himself unable to find any explanation of the bone-rattling experience. 

" It looks like a..... a zombie!" Prest said trying to make sense out of the situation. 

" But this is real life, not a Hollywood movie set!" Kelly said, contradicting Prest's explanation.   


" Could it be a costume or something like that?" Melissa asked get the idea from Kelly's statement. 

Mick looked around the room and saw the blank expressions and nervous movements of the others._ Looks like no one else has an answer either._ Edwin had taken a seat on the bed to try and regain control of his emotions. Seph was also acting peculiar. His eyes were examining the body. _He sort of looks like he is fascinated by that zombie._ " Seph," Mick called," what are you doing? You look like you want to study that thing." 

" Huh," Seph remarked as his eyes were transfixed on the monster. All other eyes now lay on him. Seph separated from his beguilement of the dissolved figure and faced Mick. " Umm, no." Seph finally said, denying Mick's comment. " It's just that this creature looks like it has some sort of leprosy. And did anyone see into it's eyes before. It had no sign of intelligence whatsoever, almost like a wild animal crazed for food." 

" Dammit Seph, it attacked Edwin." Mick yelled a bit upset with Seph's fascination. 

" Ok, calm down. Look, I'm pretty sure it's dead. It looks like you caved in a part of it's skull, Mick. I'm going to have a closer look." 

" That's insane. Aren't you scared at all?" Kelly asked. 

" Sometimes science comes before fear." Seph explained as he knelt down and thoroughly inspected the body. 

" Well what is it!" Mick said as the anxiety in the room was growing at an unbelievable rate. Everyone stood behind him, wondering if Seph could find out just what was going on. 

Seph slowly took the monster's pulse. He looked up in amazement and glanced at every single person in the room. " This thing defies all aspects of logic as we know it. Out of everything I have learnt from biology and other sciences, this man, and I use this term loosely, is dead and has been dead for at least two hours." Seph said in a very sophisticated, scientist-like voice. 

" What!" The five guests and the hostess perfect unison. " Than how the fuck was that _thing_ walking a couple of minutes ago?" Kelly asked hoping Seph would have an answer. 

" Wait... If it is a zombie, than technically, it can't be knocked unconscious." Prest said using his knowledge of zombies from books and horror flicks. 

No one was paying attention to Prest. " Seph, has the science department here been doing any experiments with reviving the dead or anything like that?" Mick asked wondering if anything like that was possible. 

" No, never. Here at Sellbain, they work on curing incurable diseases like cancer. We do get funding from the pharmaceutical company, Umbrella." 

  
Edwin quickly turned his head and got up from his sitting position as Seph last word finished. " Umbrella?" Edwin repeated. _Where have I heard that name from._  


Everyone had now circled around the body except Prest, who was standing a safe distance away, gazing at the fallen corpse. " Hey guy's, be careful." Prest cautioned in a wavering voice. Again Prest was ignored except by Edwin who glanced back, becoming uncomfortable after seeing Prest's uncertain gaze. Edwin had felt a premonition of something bad, something evil.  
  


Noises of death and twinge of darkness compacted Ric's heart like a compressor. Ric's head was jerking in all directions searching for anything that could be causing the dreaded noises. Sweat began to fly from his forehead, left and right. T_his has to be a nightmare. Dammit, wake up. __**Wake up!**_Then a sound silence all the others. Ric listened closely and heard the howls of some sort of dog or wolf. But as the noise got louder, Ric began to realize that the sound was to fierce to be anything he could think of. This howl filled the sky with insatiable bloodlust. Than, in a heartbeat, dead silence. Before Ric's heart even got a chance to rest a new sound echoed in the distance. this time it was beats of snow being crushed . As the crunch of the snow came closer, Ric could hear that the sound had a pattern of four beats._ Four beats equals four legs! Oh shit. Ric get the __**fuck out of here!**_Ric jetted in the opposite direction from the oncoming danger. His mind was racing, thinking of a million fears at once. He was so distracted, that he lost the pathway and started to run through the forested area. Tree branches whipped different parts of Ric's body as he flew through the forest. A sick melody of human pants and trees sweeping by filled Ric's head. His mind had now turned blank and running was his _only_ thought. The crunch from the unknown creature was getting closer. Ric glanced back, seeing blood eyes obliterating through the nocturnal void to feed upon the nutrients of human flesh. Prayers spawned from the fear crept up the lifeless sky as Ric knew he only had a minute or so before the hellhound caught up with him. 

The creature's eyes were revealed to the light and it once again found it's prey. The carcass slowly heaved itself up and everyone took a step back. Edwin gazed right into the eyes of his predator. Life came to a halt and time froze. The shrieks and screams of a possessed soul echoed In Edwin's head. Visions of malice and despair, torture and torment blackened Edwin completely. And for an instance, he understood the pain. The creature seemed mindless, but Edwin could hear a warning crying from the depths of the demon. Time slowly resumed and Edwin got ready. The corpse lunged at Edwin and he simply side-stepped avoiding the danger completely. Anticipation of the creature's hunger had saved him. It flew right into the table that was being used as a bar. Liquor flew everywhere as the table collapsed under the weight of the falling dead. " How the hell do we kill this thing!" Melissa yelled in frustration and horror. 

" Burn it!" Prest screamed. 

" What?!" The half of the guests gasped. 

" The zombies' soaked in booze, booze is highly flammable. Get it? There's no time to explain, just someone use a match or lighter or something!" Prest panicked as the zombie was trying to get back up. 

To their luck, Melissa had matches which she usually used for her disgusting habit. She lit a match and threw it at the zombie. It went out as it soared through the air. The match bounced of it's head and wasn't hot enough to start anything. The zombie stood like a puppet dangling from a string and beckoned Edwin once again with it's corrosive pupils. Mick rammed the zombie sending right back down into the flammable liquid. " Melissa, light the cigarette, than throw the cigarette!" Seph commanded. 

Melissa lit up another match, fumbled out her box of cigs and lit one up. She tossed the cig at the fallen zombie and immediately a fire ignited. Edwin saw beauty in the ignition of the fire. Blue light rippled through the zombie's body before erupting to a reddish-orange blaze. Edwin knew it was sick to see beauty of the inferno of flesh but he could feel the captive soul being released from it's undead prison. 

" Burn in hell you sonuvabitch" Prest said mimicking a fictitious movie character. Suddenly, the fire-riddled head faced Prest and the body slugged it's way towards him. " Oh Shi....!" 

_**KaBoom**_. Prest's cursing was cut off my the thunderclap of an explosion. Apparently, one of the beer bottles was underneath the zombie and the fire ignited it. This blew a hole through the dead-man's stomach. Blood, decayed skin and intestines flew _everywhere_ covering _everything_. Edwin's bond with the soul was cut off as he had to wipe the human components off his face. His stomach started to jackhammer puke up his throat. He forced it down. Unfortunately Kelly, Seph and surprisingly Mick didn't have the stomach to stop theirs. 

  
The hellhound dodged left and right using it's incredible maneuverability to dodge the trees soaring across the landscape. It's nose was now filled with the stench of it's prey. It was so close that snow being kicked up from the prey was hitting the face of the hellhound. With an explosion of snow, the hounds hind legs launched it at the obstinate prey. The target suddenly switched direction and the hound flew into a small snow bank. A flurry of snow lifted and danced in the air as the hound took off once again determined to get it's dinner. The forest became thinner and thinner and in the distance, a clear field formed. The prey scrambled out of the forest onto the field. The biped glanced back, horror plastered on his face. His foot sank into a small pothole and he went flying into the snow. He slid on the fresh snow for about three feet. The hellhound slowed to a walk. It saw it's prey injured and did not want to waste more energy than it had to. Five feet away, It flashed the biped it's teeth, snarling at him. Four feet away, the hellhound could smell the fear. Three feet away, the human's voice was pleading in his gibberish language and his eyes were overflowing with water. Two feet away, the hellhound's blood eyes bore into the human's skull destroying all resistance. One foot away, the Hellhound's jaw slowly opened for the first bite.   
  


Ric pulled with all his strength, flailing his arms trying to break the chains. The struggle fought in his mind could not break the fear that held him down, the fear that shackled him to the floor. _I can't believe it ends like this. I don't even know who I am any more and now a mutated wolf is about to eat me for dinner. I'm about to be killed. If there's anyone up there watching over me, __**now would be a good time to act!**_Ric could see all the way down the hellhound's throat as it's jaws edged their way to his face. A stench of the hound's earlier snacks made Ric shiver in disgust. _This is the end. I can see my tombstone right now, Ric Aron Coomber or whatever my last name is eaten my a mutant hound from hell._ Then, his eyes full of tears, his heart full of fear and his body full of restraint Ric saw the dog's nose twitch. _Can you prolong my demise any longer! __**Death isn't supposed to taker this long! **_The hound's head completely turned and it began to growl into the darkness. Ric pulled his whole body back in disgust as he saw a part of the dogs brain hanging out of the skull with bright pink flesh eaten away around it. _What the hell is this thing! _The hound shifted it's whole body away from Ric, barking now still into the distance. Ric stared beyond the hound, wondering what could make a creature of this ferocity edgy. Suddenly cracks in the sky tore the clouds open and moonbeams began to reveal the field in front of him and a silhouette arose from the ashen horizon. Ric's eyes widened ten folds. The shadow had to be ten feet tall. A glint of moonlight shone of one smooth spherical surface of the outline. The reflection was coming from what seemed to be the head of an image too inhuman to have the human form that it showed. The hound was becoming overloaded with a frenzy of vehemence. Ric was caught into a dispute between two monsters that shouldn't even exist. He could only help but watch as the hound's warnings grew into a torrent of rage. The hellhound ripped the ground in front of it and leaped at the unwelcome guest. The hound was heaved out of the air like child catching a baseball as the outline extended it's tree trunk arm outwards. The hound yelped in what sounded like a satanic plea. The next moment burnt a hole right through Ric's mind. The outline hurled the hound right into a football goal post erected at one end of the field. The post bent forward from the impact and the hound's body was ripped in two. Blood sprayed into what seemed to be a perfect half circle. The outline's head and one eye scoured the premise and than the figure slowly walked away from Ric's location. Ric could feel a tiny vibration as the outline lifted and dropped it's monolithic legs. Ric threw his head back into the snow, staring at nothing but remembering everything.   
  


It was at about this time that Jesse decided to grace the group with her presence. She came stampeding out of the washroom and screamed," What was that explosion?!?" 

" We just blew up a zombie." Prest simply stated with a mix of pride, horror and a bit of humour backing him up. 

" What _are_ you talking about?" Jesse asked putting a snobbish blurt in are. 

" Don't believe us, just look around." Prest said back to her. 

The dorm had been hit by an undead tornado. The three chairs that Kelly used only when she had guests had been knocked over in the panic. One table at the left corner of the room had been trashed along with the CD player on top. The table at the other end of the room and been smashed and burnt to crisps with the carrion overhead. Broken bottles surrounded the wooden rubble. Kelly's bed and table with a lamp on it opposite to the fire hazard had been untouched. Other than the blood and organs that had rained onto every corner of the room.   


" Holy shit!" Jesse _slowly_ said while transfixed on the burning body. 

The group of students just stood there after that. Everything became silent as human minds tried explain something that just couldn't be. Kelly and Seph retreated to the bathroom to do some more hurling. Melissa crouched down and started to cry. Prest went over to comfort her. Kathryn stood frozen, searching her soul for answers. Mick paced up and down trying to think of a plan. Edwin remained silent, watching everyone else in the room. _Their is a burning corpse on the floor._ Jesse kept on repeating to herself. She began to breathe very heavily, her mind went blank. Her mind let out a bellow that was able to shake her whole system. " I have to get out of here!" She almost screamed as her eyes darted back and forth in terror. 

" Jesse don't! You don't know if anymore are out there!" Edwin yelled even though she rushed into the hall about halfway through his sentence. Prest immediately left Melissa's side as he noticed Jesse exiting the room. As Jesse reached the hallway, she heard moans coming from her left side. She looked up and saw two more corpses but these one's were walking! She screamed a zipped down the right side of the hallway. 

  
" Jesse, wait!" Prest screamed as he went after her. Edwin went over to Melissa replaced Prest as her protector. _Dammit Prest. Why does Jesse make you act this way?_ Edwin asked himself as he caressed and rocked Melissa who was a stone throw away from having a nervous breakdown. 

Mick followed, but as soon as he hit the hallway he rushed back into the room. " There's another one, isn't there?" Edwin asked, already seeing the answer in Mick's face. 

He slowly nodded his head. The shocked expression on his face was freaking Edwin out. His mind was going berserk. Pictures of zombies ripping his flesh off different parts of his body was pummeling all his courage into oblivion. Then his brain reminded him that everyone else was just as scared as he was. He looked around the room. Every single one of them had the same spark of fear in their eyes. They had already figured out that there was another zombie coming our way. Edwin then looked down at Melissa and remembered a line thrown at him during a leadership camp he attended. Since he had shown so much promise, the counselors had put him in charge of a group during a survival game. Halfway through the game, things started to get really tough and Edwin remembered getting very panicky and scared. He remembered John, a counselor he respected more than anyone else, tell him that he had it in him to succeed in leading his group. Edwin remember learning in that game that a leader is someone who can face danger during a dangerous situation and can win. _God, I can believe how much I sound like some sort of pathetic 80's cartoon hero. But this isn't the point. I have to do this because this time I'm playing for my life and there is no way in hell that I'm letting my friends just die right in front of me. Now is not a time to panic. I have always been good a pulling through in difficult times and I can't think of a more difficult time. _Edwin cradled Melissa more thinking that for some strange reason he had become responsible for the lives of the people around him. He closed his eyes for a second and then looked up with fierce determination, determination not to die.  
  


Kathryn had noticed Edwin's quick reactions after Prest's abandonment of Melissa. She began to remember back to that night. She still wasn't sure how she felt about Edwin. At times she wanted get him back for what he had done, but at other times she wanted to caress him. _I want to kiss and kill him, go figure._ Her eyes locked on his cradling of Melissa. The fear of the zombies was fading away by the one thing that had remained in her heart for so long. _Look at him, he has a compassion unmatched by anyone I know. Before the incident, she was considering asking him out. But all that has changed now. Things can never be as they were. I've wanted to get all this stuff off my chest and... _The visions of the zombie breaking into the dorm began to resurface. .._.And my opportunity was broken by flesh eating monsters that have risen from the dead. Whippdee do, I'm living a freaking Dean Koontz book. God, why the hell are you putting us through this?_  
  


Stilmeyer was perplexed as he walked down the hallway. There was practically no noise coming from any of the dorms, well that is except for Kelly's. He knew that Christmas break had come but in his twenty years at Sellbain the first day of Christmas break had never been so _dead_. Paranoia had followed him down the hallway as he actually thought that he could hear groaning. He had laughed it off, knowing that there was no such thing as the _boogie man_. Yet the bad feeling was still looming in the back of his mind. He wanted his staff or anyone to be there with him. He would even except the company of the young Coomber brat. Something just wasn't right. Stilmeyer let out a sigh of relief as he saw professor Warris at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the dorms. _Thank God, another human._ " Jonathan, what brings you here?" Stilmeyer said in a very cheery tone. 

A white hair individual looked directly at the dean. His eyes were behind very extravagant glasses and his hair draped down the sides of his head. His lanky figure made him seem frail and withered but Stilmeyer knew he was a very smart and crafty person. He was able to control students very well with method of intimidation that Stilmeyer had always been envious of. _There's always been a devious mind in that man. _The dean thought as he waited for a reply. Jonathan Warris looked like he had been searching for someone too. " Just my luck, and I thought everyone on campus was gone." He said in a maniacal tone. 

" C'mon Jonathan, just because the holidays has just begun doesn't mean that everybody has left the campus grounds." Stilmeyer responded. 

" I guess I miss calculated. Lucky I always overshoot these kind of things." Jonathan said in what Stilmeyer could only make out as incoherent ramblings. Warris' eyes glared with a mix of confidence and insanity. Stilmeyer began to get anxious. " Your T-virus cronies aren't going to get a hold of me, Brant!" 

" What are you talking about? You know my name is Irwin. And what's this T-virus?" Stilmeyer asked, wondering if Warris had finally gone insane. _Not like it would be a long trip anyways. _

" Shut up you text-book gigolo." Warris commanded as he pulled out a tazer from under his lab coat and shocked Stilmeyer with it. The electricity sent him to the ground and he began writhe in pain. Semiconscious, Stilmeyer could hear a inhuman howl coming from the courtyard. " Damn, it's already here! I've got to work fast." Warris ranted to himself as he began to drag Stilmeyer out the building. Stilmeyer began to grumble, trying to make words come out. Warris turned around and zapped him into comatose state.   
  


Ric breathed hard and deep. The frigid air was now reaching every part of his body. The snow was soaking through his jacket and jeans. His near death experienced had shell-shocked into his state of horrified meditation. He knew that he couldn't stay lying in the snow. He had to find help and get the hell out of there. The picked himself up knowing that seeing a hellhound be split into is not half as bad as himself being ripped in two. He ran to a door that was past the football field. _Please be open, please be open._ He chanted as he turned the knob. " Yes!" he said out loud as he push the door open. He hurried inside but as the door slowly fell back closed he took one glimpse back at the dismembered hound. His face remained expressionless as his eyes gazed outwards as the door slam shut. 

  
  
  



	4. Default Chapter Title

Chapter 3 

" Brant, we've reached the compound, copy." A voice transmitted through the disturbance of the radio._ Damn, I hate these things. _

" I read you Lynx." Buzzed and acknowledgement through the radio. " Do you have the location of the lab?" 

" Yes, I have the map right here." Lynx said as he patted the brest pocket of his black vest armor.   
" Me and my men are ready to get this mission over with as quick as possible. Just make sure that 'baby blue' doesn't attack any of my men." Lynx had already seen the monstrosity known as Desolator in action and there was no way in hell that he wanted put his team anywhere close it. 

" Desolator is only programmed to exterminate Warris. Just make sure you don't get in his way." Brant's warning crackled leaving Lynx with the unsure feeling that he had ever since he had been assigned the mission. 

" I'll make sure I won't stop anmd ask him for directions." Lynx spoke bluntly, knowing that his fears were definitely priorities. " All right, were moving out. I'll contact you when we finish the mission. Or... if anything goes worng. Lynx out." He said as he switched the radio off. _Dammit_. Lynx cursed remembering what had happened to the teams sent into Raccoon City. _Hunk was the only one to come back alive from that one. And who knows, maybe this G-virus fanatic will pull a Birkin on me. _Lynx look at the memebers of his team. The young ones were anxious, ready to go up against anything, while the veterans stayed alert knowing that anything would go up against them. _Ready or not, we're in the game now. _  


" Alright, listen everyone." The commander ordered as all the focus drew forth. " We are going to make this a short a mission as possible. I want to get the data and get out of here! Squandron A is going to the front entrance of the lab while we hit the flank position. Check your weapons and ammo, knowing Warris, we'll need everything we've got. Questions?" 

One of the younger units, Viron, stood up. " Sir, what about 'baby blue'?" His eyes were full of the unsure feeling that Lynx had chose to hide. _Desolator, the worst partner you could ever get teamed up with. _Lynx looked at the boy, not 100 percent about anything. Desolator or 'baby blue' (as the named him after the blue tint in it's skin) was a giant nearly invincible to anything he could even think of. Unlike most of the other squad leaders hired by umbrella, Lynx had a reasonable attitude and he wasn't a sadistic killing machine. He liked to get the job done swiftly with everyone on his team alive. He always believed that you could never put a price on the life of a human. This seemed to contradict everything that his employers believed in and he always had to bury this belief in the line of duty. Never used to the massacre that Umbrella produced, Lynx would weep over the thousands of lives lost after every mission. A veteran mercanary who was only sent to clean a mess that he didn't commit was the only fantasy that could make Lynx's sense of humanity accept that none of the destruction was directly related to him. Lynx's heart had steadily darkened over the years since a glimmer of peace could not exist within the core of a pernicious empire. 

" We have to stay as far away from it as possible. You all know that it can't distinguish between friend and foe." Lynx answered after being distracted by his thoughts. Viron gave him a slow nod and the others look up at him with confidence that could only be described as shaky._ I hate when they give me this look. I't_ _doesn't help when I have to blast away their resurrected corpse_. " Okay, move out." Lynx said as he lead the way of the rooftop. _Another mission, another monstrousity, another holocaust.   
_  


" Okay, everybody...** Huddle up!**" Edwin screamed at the top of his lungs. As Speh and Kelly stammered out of the bathroom, everyone in the living space turned to Edwin. Seph and Kelly's faces had been discolored obviously from the puking. " We are not going to stay here to get killed. There is another one of those things coming our way. If we stay here, we might as well put up a sign that says 'fresh meat'." Edwin's brief oration trembled in places but got his message across to everyone. 

" Edwin's right." Mick backed his friend. " We have to get out of here." 

" Then, **Where the HELL do we go?!? **How do we know where is safe. Are you guaranteeing our survival? This our lives we are talking about. I mean, there are flesh-craving zombies after us! This doesn't even make **FUCKING** sense!!!" Melissa ranted. Tears had made her eyes red. Insanity was know breathing deep into her mind. 

She collapsed on the floor again, balling her eyes out. Kelly and Kathryn went over to join her.   
" I'm not going to die here or now. I promise that I will protect all of us. I'm not going to let anyone die!" Mick shouted trying to send his bravery into everyone's soul. Edwin's eyes glared over at him and for an instance anger erupted in his brain. W_here does he come of thinking he's the one whose going to save us!_ Edwin then realized this what not the time for jealousy. Mick was much braver than he was and he knew that thoughts of being responsible for everyone else's life was just a spurt of self-admirance fueling his unquenchable thirst to be the hero. Mick's the right one for this, you know that. _Just because you remember some stupid advice from a counseler you had ten years ago doesn't make you a zombie-slaying savior._ Edwin drew his attention to Mick who started to speak. " Fow all we know, there might be hundreds of those _zombies_ out there. We need to protect ourselves from them which means we need weapons. I have a pistol in my room, does anyone else know were we can get weapons?" 

All eyes met with all minds on locations of any sort of crude artillary to be found. The sudden change of events had made them forget about the zombie that was headed their way. The zombie limped to the front of the door way and let out a low groan. A burst of anger came over Melissa as she got up and scooped up a broken chair leg. " **Don't ever interrupt me when I'm thinking!**" She hollered as she javelined the crude wooden stake right at the zombie. In an eruption of blood, brains, and skull fragments, the stake blew right through half of the zombie's head. The corpse groaned in agony with the quarter of a mouth it had left. Seph's face turned completely white as he clenched his stomach and covered his mouth. Kelly instantly turned away, not subjecting herself to the graphic semblance. A semblance that Edwin had a clear view of. He froze as he glared at the innards of the human brain. Mounds of pink were splattered over by tanslucent red liquid. White shapnel protruded from numerous sections of the mush and patches of hair and skin dangled down also soaked in the the dark red blood. The zombie's arms flailed in all directions until the body finally gave way. The shock of the action sent Melissa into a ball formation and she began to cradle herself. Eyeballs danced back and forth from Melissa to the demi-faced zombie . Edwin broke away from the grisly onslaught. Edwin looked at Melissa. Something inside of him shattered the images of carnal butchery and focused him on the reality of the situation. A person was slowly being dragged down and he had to get the spotlight off of her. Edwin picked his brain, trying to think of a way to claim the attention. 

" There is a medieval exhibit showcasing remade middle-age weapons." Edwin blurted out. The whole room turned to face him not sparing him their looks of complete confusion. " Hey, it's all that I could come up with!" 

The room became silent once again. Mick whipped the blanket from Kelly's bed and covered the curdling audacity. A juxtaposition of thoughts jumbled the room. Defense and the offense of death were on the minds of everyone in the room. Edwin noticed that Melissa had been able to regain some control as her cradling was now slow and not erratic as it was before. He was not able to take joy in the kindness of his actions because of the savagry infesting the school. He glanced out the window, distracted by the white flurry bleaching the glass. A distraction broke the dual thought jigsaw as the realization that his brother was trapped in the school with creatures of pure evil. The storm outside heard the silent plea for safety from one brother to the other.  
  


Jesse rushed up and down hallways screaming at the top of her lungs. Prest followed behind her, trying to get her to stop. Behind him, a conga-line of zombies had formed, attracted by all the noise. Jesse, didn't want to stop. She just wanted everything to disappear. These things weren't supposed to happen to her; it wasn't like she was the star of some slasher b-movie. Her feet began to feel like pieces of iron as her heart told her to stop. She gradually slowed down until she came to a full halt. When Prest caught up to her, she was weezing heavily. " Jesse, are you okay?" He asked in short breathes as the running had gotten to him as well. 

She looked up at him and gave him a hearty smile. " For once, I'm actually glad to see you." She joked, not exactly sure what else to say. 

" You always did have a way with words." Prest joked back, returning a smile. " You know, this might be our last night together, why don't we make it one to remember." 

" Maybe I'm not so glad to see you." Jesse responded to Prest's sexual proposition. The gazed at each other intensly before breaking up in laughter. _You always could make a rough situation tolerable, Prest. _Multiple groans from the distance reminded the friends about the oncoming predators. 

" Shit, this is not good." Prest cursed, counting the limping predators. " They are blocking our way back to the others." 

" Prest, why the hell are these things after us?" Jesse asked going through the same trauma that her friends went through. 

" Listen, I've gone through this before. What's important now is getting out of here alive. We need to think of something and _fast_." Prest said, still eyeing the slow moving zombies. 

" We need to escape from them first. We should go to classroom area first. It's the closest." Jesse said to the back of Prest's head. 

" We can't go outside like this cause we'll freeze to death so using the courtyard is out. We'll have to use the skywalk." 

" That's a floor up, we need to go to the elevator." 

The shuffling feet were getting closer and closer. " Okay, let's get the hell out of here!" Prest yelled as he started to run down the hallway. Jesse followed close behind. 

Dorms flew by as the two young adults jolted, twisting and turning around various corners. Zombies began to pop out of different dorms. Jesse and Prest had attracted a little to much attention. As they turned right, the elevator appeared in the horizon._ No zombies. Yes! _" We're going to make it!" Jesse exclaimed. 

" Don't ever say that, cause that's when everything goes wrong." Prest yelled back. 

_**Crash**_. A dorm door broke open and out popped two zombies. " Keep on going!" Prest screamed back as he ran to the opposite side of the zomebies. Jesse saw him fly by the two zombies. Now it was her turn. 

Her speed increased to it's ultimate potential. The zombies' extend their arms outward and lunged towards her. _Fffffffffftt_. The first one whizzed by like a blur. The second one was directly in her path. She bound right and out of no where an arm flew at her. She screamed as it tried to get a good hold on her arm. _Thrriiiiipp_. A piece of shirt ripped off and was left in the hands of the zombie. She slowed as she reached the elevator. Prest had already pushed the button. " C'mon, dammit." Prest impatiently screamed as the zombies homed in on their position. 

Jesse squeezed Prests hand as she watched in horror as the mindless bags of flesh began to limp faster to their position. _Dammit, I'm not dying here. I'm too young to die. The world's supposed to be my oytser not my funeral! _Jesse's mind ranted a thousand thoughts per second until the sound of the doors seperating filled her ears. " Let's go!" She yelled as she jumped into the elevator as soon as the doors had opened wide enough to fit her body in. " Hit door close, hit door close!" She bellowed at Prest. 

The zombie's were so closed that Jesse could tell what color their eyes were underneath the blood. As Prest's finger tapped the door close button, Jesse squished his finger the button socket, trying to make the door close asap. Jesse let out a dimension bending scream as a zombie reached in as the doors began to close. Prest shook his head, trying to make Jesse scream stop echoing in his head. The arm tugged on Jesse's vest and began to pull her out. " Jesse!" Prest screamed as he grabbed her as well. 

Jesse was in the middle of a tug and war. Her shirt was being stretched to the max by the power of the zombie's grip. Her arm was being chafed by the friction of Prest's arm sliding up and down to the tugs of the zombie. The arm had almost pulled her the whole way out and suddely....  
_**Kploishuuuus!**_The crunching of bone and sinew was heard by all as the zombie's hand was dismembered by the elevator doors. Jesse grabbed it and threw it off her shirt. Both Prest and her slouched down in panic and exhaustion. She panted deep, knowing that she was safe for the time being. 

  
" School seizure room?" Mick repeated. 

" Yeah, it's were the University keeps all the items confiscated off students. I'm sure they have weapons over there. They must not have found Mick's gun." Seph said giving a cautious glance at Mick. 

" Mick, why do you have that gun anyways?" Edwin asked. _Thank you Edwin. I was waiting for someone to ask that. Mick doesn't strike as one to carry a gun. _

" Listen, now is not the time to discuss this! We have to get our hands on weapons as quick as possible." Mick explained avoiding Edwin's question completely. 

Everyone in the room had become excited by Seph's mention of the room where all the seized property and were now almost forgeting about the covered body on the floor. But Edwin's question had made a couple of people have an uneasy expression. Seph wasn't sure what to think of Mick at the moment._ Why the hell does he need a gun? This just doesn't make any sense. Forget about Joseph, we have more important things like zombies to worry about! _Seph stopped his worrying and joined the others in silence. His fears were building slowly, first with the zombies, then with friends having strange hidden agendas. 

" Hey guys, the medieval exhibit is right by the library and the seizure room is at the main office. Those locations are at opposite ends of the university! What are we supposed to do?" Kathryn asked, finally speaking up. 

Everyone in the room either said yeah or nodded their heads. They all looked at Mick for an answer. " We're going to have to split up." Mick responded. 

" Split up?" Melissa repeated in a freightened voice. 

" Don't worry. We will just split up to get weapons and then we will meet back in the main auditorium when we are finished. Me, Edwin and Kelly will go to the medieval exhibit and to my room where my gun is. Seph, Melissa and Kathryn will go to the seizure room." Mick announced. 

_Good, he didn't put me with him. Wait a second, where's Prest and Jesse? _

" What about Prest and Jesse?" Kelly asked the same thing that was in Seph's mind. 

" They have already made a run for it. They went while you were in the washroom." Edwin explained. 

" Shouldn't we go look for them?" Seph asked looking Edwin then Mick. 

" We have to concentrate on defending ourselves first. When we meet in the auditorium we will figure out what our next step is." Mick answered. 

Seph noticed Edwin giving a quick glance at Mick. _It almost looks like he's angry at Mick._ " Ok, let's do it!" Melissa said, with a deep tone of anger in her voice which was enough to distract Seph from his thoughts. She went and kicked another leg off a chair. " We might as well defend ourselves with what we can right now." 

They all nodded their heads in agreement. Most people took stakes from the cheap wooden chairs used in all of the dorms. Kathryn took two unbroken liquor bottles while Edwin took a cord from a lamp. Mick took a whole chair and swung it twice, seemingly to check the weight and durability. Seph took a wooden stake and he began to quiver a bit. His whole life had been calm and controled until he reached university where he found out that spur of the moment decisions were fun. He also found out that he could do thinks he liked and wanted to pursue rather than learned. This whole situation had opened doors in his mind that had never been touched. Fear, bravery, mistrust, anger, desecration, confusion. All of his emotions had been intensified. Everything had been jumbled. He did not know how to handle them but the one thing he did know was that he didn't want to die. 

  
Edwin wrapped up his cord. Mick was the only thing on his mind. _Mick, what they hell has gotten into you? This whole save ourselves before others attitude and a gun. What on Earth is going on? _Edwin analyzed the questions he wanted to ask Mick in his head. A fear of Mick's actions had also built up with the jealousy that Edwin had made ever since Mick had taken charge. " Okay, let's go." Mick ordered, cautiously exiting the room. Edwin looked at Mick closely as his bulking roommate left the room. _Everyone's got their secrets. So what's his? _Melissa and Kelly followed. Edwin pushed the new set of worries out his mind and focused on something else that was annoying him. Before Seph and Kathryn had a chance to leave, he called for them. " What is it?" Kathryn asked. 

" I want you guys to take care of Melissa. She's in a very fragile state." Edwin said, expressing his worries. 

" Don't worry. We'll look after her." Seph said. Edwin could hear the fear in his voice. He had always been scared of many things and Edwin new that this whole situation was shaking him up inside. The funny thing was, he was trying to be brave, trying to help out the best he could._ Seph, you're doing good. _Edwin was proud of his friend, and was glad to see that he and Kathryn were with Melissa. 

The trio of Edwin, Seph and Kathryn exited the room. They all exchanged glances and Edwin could see the worried look on everyone's face. They were splitting up and no one knew if they would see the other group again. Mick spoke up," Keep yourselves alive out there. And don't forget, the auditorium when finished." 

" You too." Seph said. 

With that they parted. Edwin looked back and caught a glimpse of Kathryn's face. _Good luck, Kathryn._ She smiled back at him. Mick and Kelly went a bit ahead of Edwin. Again he was alone with his thoughts. Thoughts of zombies and Kathryn, Mick and Ric, Seph and Melissa, life and death. He began to follow Mick and Kelly. Groans and creaks echoed in the hallways. Edwin then realized that there were more zombies than he had thought. A lot more, and they were looking for food. _Looking for us. _

  
Ric had heard the sound of two more of what he thought were helicopters coming from outside. To his relief, there were no earthquaking thuds this time. He had figured out that he was in the education part of the university because of all the classrooms. There was no one around and he figured it was because classes were over for two weeks and everyone was in the residential area. He had looked around, venturing in different classrooms but finding nothing unusual. He was very happy that no more excitement had found him because he figured being chased by a dog from hell and having that dog be ripped in two by a ten foot goliath was enough excitement for anyone. Walking down one hallway, Ric began to worry if he'd ever find anyone. Suddenly, the echoes of many footsteps filled the passage. _Not more footsteps. Listen, there's too many to count. Shit, not again!_ Ric crouched, scanning both of the ends of the hallway he was in. At least I have light in here. The light above flickered on and off, making Ric's shadow fade in and out. _Well at least more than outside_. Then Ric saw a head peer around the corner. The thing was unable to see him because of the darkness. Ric retreated back, trying to hide in the darkness. The head was helmeted with some sort of gas mask. An arm appeared waving to someone. The head then was joined with a body and limbs. The body was a human. _Yes, another human. Thank you!_ As Ric prepared to go meet the person, a flash of an item kept him at bay. The man was carrying a some sort of machine gun and was wearing full body armor. _That armor looks like the ones the swat team wears in the movies. Don't be scared you wuss. They have weapons just in case monsters like that dog attacks them. Just go over, they are probably here to save the people in the university. _As Ric again prepared to introduce himself, something flashed in his mind. His instincts were telling him not to go. It was the darkness of his suit. Like he was here on a stealth mission and Ric knew rescuing people should not be done in stealth. _The whole point is for them to see you._ Ric sat back, hoping that his instincts were right. The man waved his gun in the air and exited from Ric's view opposite of that which he had shown up. Then a bunch of armored men passed through the intersection. They passed like a train of people. All of them equiped with guns and some had more strapped to their backs. _No way do I want to find out what they're here for. I think I'll go the opposite direction._ Ric quietly moved to the other end of the hall, always looking to where the men had come from. As he passed the end intersection, he bumped into something. He froze. The faint touch befell his shoulder than clasped into a powerful squeeze. Ric struggle in horror as he was whipped to the wall. His face was imprinted into the concrete. He stumbled back and fell to the floor. All the lights in the hallway began to flash on and off. Ric only caught a glimpse of a figure as the lights totally faded. The outside storm wailed and laughed, pounding the ancient building. Ric's pupils swelled, embellishing the searing twilight.   
  
  


Chapter 4 

  
  
  



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